The worldwide status of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) as a zoonosis remains of great concern. This article reviews the main risk factors for bTB in cattle based on a three-level classification: animal, herd and region/country level. A distinction is also made, whenever possible, between situations in developed and developing countries as the difference of context might have consequences in terms of risk of bTB. Recommendations are suggested to animal health professionals and scientists directly involved in the control and prevention of bTB in cattle. The determination of Millenium Development Goals for bTB is proposed to improve the control/eradication of the disease worldwide.

Haptoglobin and serum amyloid A should be used with caution as markers of inflammation in the week after calving. Poor sensitivity in other postpartum periods could be related to the higher incidence of chronic (vs acute) inflammation. Haptoglobin may be appropriate for routine screening, but further work needs to be done to assess its value as an indicator of herd health.

To prioritize 100 animal diseases and zoonoses in Europe, we used a multicriteria decision-making procedure based on opinions of experts and evidence-based data. Forty international experts performed intracategory and intercategory weighting of 57 prioritization criteria. Two methods (deterministic with mean of each weight and probabilistic with distribution functions of weights by using Monte Carlo simulation) were used to calculate a score for each disease. Consecutive ranking was established. Few differences were observed between each method. Compared with previous prioritization methods, our procedure is evidence based, includes a range of fields and criteria while considering uncertainty, and will be useful for analyzing diseases that affect public health.

The domestic animals/wildlife interface is becoming a global issue of growing interest. However, despite studies on wildlife diseases being in expansion, the epidemiological role of wild animals in the transmission of infectious diseases remains unclear most of the time. Multiple diseases affecting livestock have already been identified in wildlife, especially in wild ungulates. The first objective of this paper was to establish a list of infections already reported in European wild ungulates. For each disease/infection, three additional materials develop examples already published, specifying the epidemiological role of the species as assigned by the authors. Furthermore, risk factors associated with interactions between wild and domestic animals and regarding emerging infectious diseases are summarized. Finally, the wildlife surveillance measures implemented in different European countries are presented. New research areas are proposed in order to provide efficient tools to prevent the transmission of diseases between wild ungulates and livestock.

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This assessment aimed to elaborate a statistical nationwide model for analyzing the space-time dynamics of bovine tuberculosis in search of potential risk factors that could be used to better target surveillance measures. A database comprising Mycobacterium bovis molecular profiles from all isolates obtained from Belgian outbreaks during the 1995-to-2006 period (n ‫؍‬ 415) allowed the identification of a predominant spoligotype (SB0162). Various databases compiling 49 parameters to be tested were queried using a multiple stepwise logistic regression to assess bovine tuberculosis risk factors. Two isolate datasets were analyzed: the first included all Mycobacterium bovis isolates, while the second included only data related to the SB0162 type strain. When all Mycobacterium bovis isolates were included in the model, several risk factors were identified: history of bovine tuberculosis in the herd (P < 0.001), proximity of an outbreak (P < 0.001), cattle density (P < 0.001), and annual amplitude of mean middle-infrared temperature (P < 0.001). The approach restricted to the predominant SB0162 type strain additionally highlighted the proportion of movements from an infected area during the current year as a main risk factor (P ‫؍‬ 0.009). This study identified several risk factors for bovine tuberculosis in cattle, highlighted the usefulness of molecular typing in the study of bovine tuberculosis epidemiology, and suggests a difference of behavior for the predominant type strain. It also emphasizes the role of animals' movements in the transmission of the disease and supports the importance of controlling trade movements.

During the past decade, livestock diseases have (re‐)emerged in areas where they had been previously eradicated or never been recorded before. Drivers (i.e. factors of (re‐)emergence) have been identified. Livestock diseases spread irrespective of borders, and therefore, reliable methods are required to help decision‐makers to identify potential threats and try stopping their (re‐)emergence. Ranking methods and multicriteria approaches are cost‐effective tools for such purpose and were applied to prioritize a list of selected diseases (N = 29 including 6 zoonoses) based on the opinion of 62 experts in accordance with 50 drivers‐related criteria. Diseases appearing in the upper ranking were porcine epidemic diarrhoea, foot‐and‐mouth disease, low pathogenic avian influenza, African horse sickness and highly pathogenic avian influenza. The tool proposed uses a multicriteria decision analysis approach to prioritize pathogens according to drivers and can be applied to other countries or diseases.

Over the last few years, a shift from curative towards preventive medicine occurred in the livestock sector. This led to an increased importance of biosecurity to better control infectious diseases by preventing their introduction and/or reducing their spread. Farmers are the main responsible actors of biosecurity measures (BSM). Existing studies report a low implementation level of BSM by the cattle farmers. Barriers such as cost, usefulness, importance, workload and lack of knowledge were investigated but the decision-making process of farmers related to a given BSM is not yet clarified. The objectives of this study were to (i) assess the level of implementation of BSM in cattle farms, (ii) assess the correlation between the importance that farmers give to a BSM and its effective implementation and (iii) identify the main reasons of non-implementation. A randomized survey was implemented in Belgium from December 2016 up to April 2017 with face-to-face interviews conducted in 100 Belgian farms. A descriptive analysis of data was performed using Microsoft Excel and Stata14 . Chi-square and Spearman's rank correlation tests, respectively, allowed comparing implementation levels in dairy herds vs. beef herds and investigating the correlation between the importance that farmers give to a BSM and its implementation level. Biosecurity measures were poorly implemented to prevent disease introduction through direct contact and almost not to avoid indirect transmission. Some measures showed a significant difference in terms of implementation level between beef and dairy herds. A positive correlation was highlighted between the importance that farmers give to a BSM and its actual effective implementation. Perceived lack of efficiency, feasibility and usefulness are the reasons most often mentioned for non-implementation. Other factors potentially influencing the decision-making process should be further investigated and clarified. Evidence-based studies would be useful to convince the farmers of the need of implementing BSM.